Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner, born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr. ( Kansas City , May 18 1911 - Inglewood , November 24 1985 ) was an American blues singer. Content * 1 Career * 2 Death * 3 Tribute * 4 Known quote * 5 Beke Dere numbers * 6 Selective Discography Career Although his greatest fame in the fifties began his rock 'n' roll - hits such as the song Shake, Rattle and Roll, stretches his career from the twenties to the eighties . Turner had several nicknames, including The Boss of the Blues and Big Joe Turner (because of his stature). He discovered his love for music through involvement with the church . His father died in a train accident when Turner was four years old. He started singing in the streets for money and left school at the age of 14. He then went to work in clubs in Kansas City, first as a cook and later as a waiter. After a while Turner was known as The Singing Bartender (the singing bartender). Turner started singing in clubs like The Kingfish Club and The Sunset. Turner and his piano playing partner Pete Johnson became locally known artists. Turners partnership with boogie woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved successful. Together they left in 1936 to New York City , where they together with Benny Goodmangave a concert, but as Turner said, after our show with Goodman, we were booked in different locations, but New York was not ready for us so we went back to Kansas City. Eventually, they were discovered in 1938 by the talent scout John H. Hammond , he invited them back out to New York to appear on one of his "From Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall , which was instrumental in the spread of jazz and blues to a wider audience. Turner and Johnson scored a big hit with the song Roll Em Pete. The song is one of the first examples of recording the backbeat. Turner has recorded the song several times with different artists and with other combinations. In 1939 Turner started and Johnson together with the boogie-players Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis a residency at Café Society, a club in New York City where she appeared with singer Billie Holiday and Frank Newton band. Besides Roll 'Em Pete Turner's most famous recordings were around that time, "Cherry Red", "I Want A Little Girl" and "Wee Baby Blues". In 1941 Turner went to Los Angeles , where he appeared in Duke Ellington's revue Jump for Joy in Hollywood. He appeared as a singing policeman in an act called He's on the Beat. Los Angeles became his home for a time. In 1945 he opened his own café together with Pete, called The Blue Moon Club. Turner made many recordings, not only with Johnson but also with the pianists Art Tatum , Sammy Price and with various jazz ensembles. He took songs by various record labels , especially at National Records, where he recorded with Count Basie Orchstra. In Turner's career, he led the transition from big band to jump blues to R & Band finally to rock and roll. Turner was skilled in the traditional blues verses. During the legendary Kansas City- jam session he exchanged refrains for hours in long instrumental solos. When Turner in 1951 performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, as a replacement for Jimmy Rushing, he was spotted by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, Turner showed signs for a new label: Atlantic Records. Turner made a couple of hits with the standard blues pattern. "Chains of Love" and "Sweet Sixteen" made him a teen favorite and improved his success for the hit Shake, Rattle and Roll. With this, he also helped to transform the popular music. Although the cover of the song Shake, Rattle and Roll by Bill Haley & His Comets a bigger hit was that of Turner, many listeners sought the release of Turner and were thereby introduced to the world of R & B . Elvis Presley showed he such releases did not need. His version of the song combined with Turner's lyrics Haley's arrangement , but that was not successful single. After several hits Turner left the popular music behind him and returned to his roots as a singer, backed by a jazz band. In 1966 helped Bill Haley Turner's career to freshen up again by him his band The Comets be available for a series of recordings set. In 1977 he recorded a cover version of Guitar Slim, "The Things That I Used to Do". In the sixties and 70 Turner returned to jazz and blues. He appeared at several festivals . He took on under the label impresario Norman Granz's Pablo. Once with his friendly rival Jimmy Witherspoon . He also worked with the German boogie woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger . In 1945 Turner Esquire magazine Award won male vocalist. He also won the Melody Maker for best new singer in 1956. The Jazz Journal award he was primarily as male vocalist in 1965. In 1983, two years before he died, Turner was incorporated into the Blues Hall of Fame. Death In 1985 Turner died at the age of 74 to a heart attack, earlier he had suffered from arthritis and diabetes . Big Joe Turner was included in deference to his death into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Tribute The music critic Robert Palmer of The New York Times said ..his voice, pushing like a Count Basie solo, rich and grainy as a section of saxophones, with the room-which dominated the sheer sumptuousness of its sound. Known quote Beke Dere numbers * Roll 'Em Pete - 1938 * Chains of Love - 1951 * Honey Hush - 1953 * Shake, Rattle And Roll - 1954 * Flip Flop And Fly - 1955 * Cherry Red - 1956 * Corrina, Corrina - 1956 * Wee Baby Blues - 1956 * Love Roller Coaster - 1956 * Midnight Special - 1957 Selective Discography * Roll 'Em Pete - "Joe Turner & Pete Johnson" (Vocalion, January 1939) * Cherry Red - "Pete Johnson & his Boogie Woogie Boys" (February 1939) * Joe Turner Blues - "Benny Carter and his All-Stars orchestra" (Okeh, 1940) * Wee Baby Blues - "Art Tatum & his Band" (Decca, February 1941) * Corrine Corrina - "Art Tatum & his Band" (Decca, June 1941) * Rocks in My Bed - 'Big Joe Turner with Freddie Slack Trio "(Decca, December 1941) * Chains Of Love - "Joe Turner" (Atlantic, April 1951) * Sweet Sixteen - "Joe Turner" (Atlantic, February 1952) * Midnight Rockin '-'' "Joe Turner" (Colony, 1952) * ''Honey Hush - "Joe Turner" (Atlantic, August 1953) * Shake, Rattle And Roll - "Joe Turner" (Atlantic, April 1954) * Flip Flop And Fly - "Joe Turner" (Atlantic, February 1955) * Nothin 'From Nothin' * Big Joe Turner full. 1 & 2 (Masters of Jazz) * Tell me pretty baby * Big Joe Turner, 1941-46 (Classics) * Greatest hits * Big Joe rides again Category:American blues singer Category:American singer-songwriter Category:American jazz singer Category:Rhythm and blues singer Category:1911 births Category:1985 deaths